Those things had nothing to do with the proper way to barbecue pork shoulder or smoke bologna. Nothing, even, with the word “hog” or “pig,” let alone “woo” or “sooie.”

No, these were more serious matters.

We wanted to know how the regular folks who love Arkansas football are feeling about the school’s decision nearly two weeks ago to terminate Bobby Petrino’s employment. Also, we hoped to get a feel for how they’d like to see the Petrino vacancy filled.

So let’s cut right to it. Arkansas fans believe the school was in the right when it fired Petrino. And they believe athletic director Jeff Long should stay in-house with an interim coach for 2012, then aim for a home-run hire in 2013.

We plucked 12 fans from the masses of 45,000-plus. They were as old as 79 and as young as 20. They were seven men and five women. They included two current students and three Arkansas alumni. All 12 identified themselves as having above-average interest in, and knowledge of, Razorbacks football.

Only one of the 12 believed outright that Petrino should not have been fired.

“The morals of the college game are down. (Firing Petrino) is a big lift for it,” said 79-year-old Jimmy Jennings of Little Rock. I think the players got a message.”

“If Coach Petrino was right up front about it, he might’ve had a chance,” said 20-year-old sophomore Kelly Van Dyke of Dallas. “Morally, they did have to (fire him).”

The lone dissenter: a former Arkansas player who asked not to be identified.

“It didn’t have to be that huge a deal,” he said.

None of the 12 said Long definitely should hire a coach from outside the program this offseason, though a few thought it would be an OK move if the right person presented himself.

“It definitely should wait until next year,” said 40-year-old Dexter Bounds of Fayetteville. “And I think they should go with Paul Petrino (as interim coach) because he’s the offensive coordinator and this team is about offense.”

MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE STADIUM …

We learned some things watching the Razorbacks on the field, too. The three biggest takeaways:

1. Taver Johnson, Paul Petrino and the rest of the current staff have minds of their own.

For the Red-White games he oversaw at Arkansas, Bobby Petrino preferred to mix up the rosters pretty evenly with starters and backups. Different approach on Saturday: All the starters on both sides of the ball were on the Red team; the second-teamers led the White team.

Led them to a 65-0 loss, that is.

Senior quarterback Tyler Wilson (31-of-41 for 467 yards with two touchdowns) went Hog wild. Wide receivers Cobi Hamilton and Marquel Wade were unstoppable—make that almost as unstoppable as tight end Chris Gragg. And the Red defense showed a lot of bite, allowing only 126 yards on 52 plays.

Why the 1s-vs.-2s approach?

“We wanted to take a good look at some of our 2s against our 1s,” Johnson said after what may have been his final public moment as the man in charge of the Razorbacks.

Multiple other staff members said it was more a matter of letting all the starters in the program exit the spring session with a lot of confidence.

2. Wilson is not just a Heisman Trophy candidate but a leading candidate.

No, not because of his numbers on Saturday against backup players who were aligned mostly in base defenses.

It’s because of his great talent passing the ball, sure, but that would be nothing in 2012 without the almost Tebow-like leadership Wilson is showing. “Almost” as in, he can have just as much influence on his fellow Razorbacks as Tebow had on the Florida Gators, only without the showy flexed biceps and teary press-conference speeches. (Did that sound cynical? We swear we didn’t intend for it to.)

“I’m not going to let this thing go down,” Wilson said on Saturday.

There have been multiple occasions in the past couple of weeks when Wilson stood up in front of the team and spoke at times when the floor would normally have belonged to Bobby Petrino. One of those came at the edge of the tunnel before the Razorbacks ran onto the field. What did he tell his teammates?

“Let’s continue to roll the ball down the hill.”

The Hogs have plenty of momentum, and their quarterback is the single biggest part of that.

3. Arkansas will be even better at wide receiver than it was in 2011.

Does that sound completely nuts? No more Jarius Wright. No more Joe Adams. Hello?

And yet it’s true. Hamilton, a 6-3, 209-pound rising senior, is going to put up some crazy numbers in 2012. He had 11 catches for 156 yards on Saturday, after totaling 34 for 542 yards and four TDs last season.

The relatively new name is Marquel Wade, an explosive sophomore wideout who’s being compared in Fayetteville with former gamebreaker Adams. Wade averaged nearly 23 yards on six catches and scored a touchdown Saturday.

At tight end, senior Chris Gragg should take another significant step and become easily one of the best at his position in the country. He’s 6-3, 236 pounds and can fly, as he did on his second of two scoring catches on Saturday, which went for 60 yards.